Over 300 product liability lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturers of the type-2 diabetes drugs Januvia, Byetta, Janumet, and Victoza, alleging the medications caused users to develop pancreatic cancer and thyroid cancer. In light of the litigation, new studies have been launched to determine what is causing these diagnoses.

American and European researchers agree there is no established link between cancer and the diabetic treatment drugs Byetta, Januvia, Janumet, and Victoza.  However, both countries agree that a possible correlation may exist; it simply has yet to be discovered.

Researchers from the U.S. and Europe conducted government-sponsored studies to investigate whether these medications actually cause pancreatic cancer in patients.  The collaborated assessment indicates that there is no evidence establishing this link, despite other recent studies which indicate otherwise.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 27, authored by researchers and officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).  The report assessed the risk of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer associated with the drug family each of the mentioned drugs belongs to, the incretin mimetics.

Different scientific inquiries have suggested an increased chance, or likelihood, of pancreatic or thyroid cancer development in conjunction with incretin mimetics.  Both the EMA and FDA state that they reviewed the same data from these studies, investigated additional studies, but were still unable to come to the same conclusions.

>>Cancer Patients Sue Diabetes Drug Makers

The agencies state that the data they collected consisted of animal testing, post-marketing studies, pre-marketing clinical trials, and adverse event reports in order to reach their conclusions.  Additionally, the agencies pointed out that while some studies suggested the correlation, they presented no proof of a cause-and-effect relationship.

The most recent study regarding incretin mimetics and pancreatic cancer was published in October 2013 by Italian researchers.  The researchers reviewed at 1,169 injury reports, and identified at least 90 cases of patients suffering from pancreatitis and elevated pancreatic enzymes.   Acute or chronic pancreatitis has been proven to have the potential to develop into pancreatic cancer in some cases.

Because these are such popular medications to treat type-2 diabetes, and that type-2 diabetes is such a common condition, researchers agree that this possible link needs to be solidly proven or disproven, to put patients’ worries to rest.

Incretin Mimetic Cancer MDL

Incretin mimetics help the patient’s body regulate insulin, preventing diabetic attacks or the need for additional insulin shots.  Unfortunately, the injury reports indicating that these medications cause pancreatic cancer have risen through the years.  The manufacturing companies of these medications have been facing product-liability lawsuits for not putting pancreatic cancer development on their drugs’ warning labels.

Currently, there are more than 300 Byetta, Januvia, Janumet, and Victoza lawsuits filed throughout America in the federal court system.  Each of these lawsuits alleges that the plaintiffs were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after using the diabetes drugs.  The lawsuits claim that the defendant-companies failed to adequately research the medications or warn about the potential side effects.

These lawsuits have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) to prevent duplicate discovery, conflicting pretrial rulings from different judges, and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.  The diabetes drug cancer MDL is centralized under U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battalglia in the Southern District of California.